Active Community: Message List

Tennis Pros on Twitter

inside_tennis — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:06:39 GMT

Now there's a better way to follow the tennis pros.

TennisTweets.com is an aggregation of Twitter feeds from select pro players on the ATP and WTA tours. You can follow Andy Murray as he makes his road trip to the U.S. Open. Or check in with Serena Williams from one of her many daily tweets.

Some of the more active tennis tweeters include: Amer Delic, Justin Gimelstob, Andy Roddick, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, the Bryan brothers and Andy Murray.

Partly from the innate independence of the sport and partly because officials haven't really caught on yet, tennis players have free run on sending tweets. Some tweet on-court, on the road, in airports or at social events.

And there's usually plenty of juicy gossip.

Check it out: http://www.tennistweets.com/

U.S. Open Bracket Challenge

inside_tennis — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:54:01 GMT

The 2009 U.S. Open Bracket Challenge will make its debut, allowing fans to fill out the U.S. Open brackets online to win prizes.

With separate competitions for the men’s and women’s singles draws, the participants compiling the most bracket points in each draw by the end of the tournament will win a trip to the 2010 U.S. Open. Prizes will be awarded to the second through 10th place finishers as well.

The challenge can be accessed at USOpen.org and will go live following the U.S. Open draw unveiling ceremony, aired live on ESPNews on Thursday, August 27.

Check it out, fill out your bracket and compete to win a trip to the U.S. Open!

http://usopenmbracket.fanball.com/index.php

Rafa's Time in the Sun

inside_tennis — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:03:01 GMT

Rafael Nadal may be out of Wimbledon due to tendinitis issues in his knee, but he's certainly not out of the public eye.

He made the cover of Men's Fitness as the year's fittest guy: http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/469. Along with this interview where Rafa talks about his training program: http://www.mensfitness.com/sports_and_recreation/athletes/154

He's on the cover of The New York Times Magazine for 6/21: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/magazine/21nadal-t.html?_r=1&hp

Greg Garber chronicles Nadal's decision not to play Wimbledon in this insightful piece on ESPN.com: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/wimbledon09/columns/story?columnist=garber_greg&id=4273020

He made the Time 100 Most Influential People for 2009: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1883644_1883653_1884545,00.html

Although we won't be treated to a potential re-match to last year's monumental final, Nadal's hard work has put him at the top of men's tennis and he deserves the praise.

Here's looking forward to next year...

Catch Wimbledon on Your iPhone

inside_tennis — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:24:36 GMT

Thanks to IBM, Wimbledon is the first Slam to make the jump to the iPhone.

Their FREE iPhone app is now available in the app store (search Wimbledon). The app features four tabs: Latest News, Live Scores and Scoreboards, Draws and Video Highlights.

The Australian Open was leading the way for awhile with a decent mobile version of their site, offering news, live scores, results and draw updates.

Now for Wimbledon, you can download an app that offers it all in one neat package.

Now if we could just get some free television coverage...

Tennis Growth - What It Means for Players

inside_tennis — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:29:43 GMT

According to data released by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA), tennis experienced an increase in participation of 43 percent from 2000 to 2008.

This puts tennis well ahead of other traditional sports like baseball, ice hockey, gymnastics and football, all of which suffered a decline in participation during the past eight years. In 2008 alone, tennis participation grew by 9.6 percent.

With more people playing tennis, the public demand for facilities will make way for industry initiatives to meet this demand, with improved courts and tennis programs expanding across the country.

Fortunately, I live in Austin where the courts are generally in good shape. In NYC, however, tennis fans aren't so lucky.

How are courts in your area? How would you like to see tennis grow in the future?

Is Federer Ready for Clay?

inside_tennis — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:17:44 GMT

If any player needs to make a big impression at this year's French Open, it's Federer.

Coming off his first tournament win of the season with a two-set victory over Nadal in Madrid, Fed finally has the confidence booster he needs to elevate his game.

He's so close to the finish line that I can't help but believe he'll beat Sampras' Grand Slam record and take the one Slam that has eluded him.

Because at this point it's a matter of faith. Sure there are the tactical and logical indications that his career is in decline, but there's also the dramatic storyline of the Great Comeback that keeps me hanging on. Not to mention he has a repertoire of some of the most elegant, classically perfect strokes the game has ever seen.

I'll keep hoping that Rog will make the sacrifices to get his game back on track. And I'll offer up my tennis bracket as a sacrifice, with Federer in the final position every time.

Re: Roger Federer's Tennis Decline

inside_tennis — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:13:58 GMT

I keep clinging to the idea that Fed will eventually pull up from this nose dive. As a consequence, my tennis bracket has been in the dumps (along with Fed's third-set success rate).

He's so close to the finish line and I can't help but believe he'll beat Sampras' Grand Slam record.

Because at this point it's a matter of faith. Sure there are the tactical and logical indications that his career is over, but there's also the dramatic storyline of the Great Comeback that keeps me hanging on. Not to mention he's one of the greatest players the game has seen.

I'll keep hoping that Rog will make the sacrifices to get his game back on track. And I'll continue to offer up my bracket as a sacrifice.

What's Not to Like?

inside_tennis — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:23:18 GMT

Is it just me, or is TennisTV.com the best thing to happen to tennis since the invent of the graphite racket?

For $20 you can watch full coverage of live feeds not just from center court, but also the outer matches from the best tennis events in the world. Now you can catch all the drama and excitement that leads up to the final matches.

For $3 you can download and own the finals of all the events on the ATP and WTA tours.

http://www.tennistv.com/page/BuyNow/0,,11444~1355246,00.html

And for free, you can check out their video archive complete with classic full matches, finals, features and interviews.

http://www.tennistv.com/page/TennisTV/VideoArchive/0,,11444,00.html

Finally, there are options for catching live tennis coverage in the U.S.

Does Safina Deserve to be No. 1?

inside_tennis — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:41:20 GMT

Dinara Safina is the latest player in the WTA Tour to reach the No. 1 ranking without winning a Grand Slam. Safina replaced Serena Williams last week in the top spot despite her losing to Williams at last year's Australian Open final (a pittiful performance on Safina's part, by the way).

Should players be allowed to become No. 1 without winning a Slam? Can a player really be called the best player in the world if she cannot win the toughest and the best tournaments there are to be won?

Re: Where Were You When Fed Lost the No. 1?

inside_tennis — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:50:15 GMT

Not for long.